The 40 Top Blogs for Staying Healthy and Fit

by Kyle Tuttle

Health, to many of us, seems like a concept that always escapes us. Whether we just realized the need to shift to a healthier lifestyle, or we've always wanted to but never have, odds are that we're pretty clueless about how to go about it. Thankfully, the Internet is a gigantic, easy-to-access resource brimming with helpful health blogs waiting to be read. Whatever your goals are, health blogs are always a good place to get started on your quest for health and fitness. Here are 40 of the best ones:

General Health News and Information

MrHealthy.com — MrHealthy.com covers every aspect of health, from nutrition to exercise and everything in between. While you're designing your workout regimen based on the tips provided by the blog, you're learning about how to de-stress and find emotional health. Health is more than what goes on with your body; complete health includes spiritual, emotional, and mental well-being, too. MrHealthy.com covers all those aspects and more, making it an excellent resource for those who want to live healthier lifestyles.

FitSugar — As part of the popular Sugar network, FitSugar is a reliable source of health- and fitness-related information. Offering diet advice, exercise tips, product reviews, health news and more, the blog gives its followers complete and comprehensive coverage of everything that's going on in the health world. Everything, from personal care to exercise inspiration is discussed, along with many avenues in which you can express your insights and opinions. Health, after all, is a multifaceted concept; it's only right that FitSugar is, too.

Healthy Fellow — When it comes to health, many folks choose to go the natural way, rather than depend on chemicals that may end up doing more long-term harm to your body than good. JP the Healthy Fellow is just one of those folks, looking to promote a healthy, natural lifestyle. Wanting to discuss health as a whole, the blog's posts cover a wide variety of topics, including exercise, nutrition, general health, and even alternative therapies to health problems. If you want to tips on how to stay healthy the way Mother Nature intended it, look no further than Healthy Fellow.

Vitals Spotlight — The medical industry is a busy, dynamic field, and things tend to happen rather quickly. Whatever happens in the medical world may have some serious consequences on your health, so you might want to keep tabs on what's going on. Enter Vitals Spotlight, a blog with all the latest updates on medical care, research, and world health issues. Find out which doctors will change your life and which scientific breakthroughs will help you live better all through one convenient blog.

My Family Health Blog — A subject such as health brings about countless opinions, some directly conflicting with others. It just so happens that these conflicting opinions can both be effective. This is the case with folk healer Edwin Casemiro, who's taken it upon himself to share his opinions on health with the world. These days, he fuses traditional folk medicine with state-of-the-art research findings to develop a multilevel perspective on health. Follow his blog for an unconventional, yet scientifically sound look at health and improving one's quality of life.

Balanced Health and Nutrition — Registered Dietician (RD) Rebecca Scritchfield knows that it can get pretty hard making sense of the vast amount of health-related information out there. In fact, it can be downright frustrating. That's exactly why she decided to start a blog on general health and wellness. As it is her lifelong calling to help people live healthier lives, she does her absolute best in sharing health news, advice, nutrition facts, and product reviews with everyone who visits her blog. Those of you who are naturals in the kitchen may even find a favorite recipe or two while browsing through the posts.

The Health Care Blog — Every person, no matter how good their genes are, will eventually need to rely on the health care system. However, to most of us, the system remains a mystery. This blog sheds a light on it, bringing you the latest news and updates from the health care industry. This blog specializes in covering the issues that may one day save your life. When it comes to health, prevention is key; and only knowledge can lead to prevention. Do your health a huge favor and find out how laws, research findings, and other issues will have a profound influence on your quality of life.

Cheryl Forberg, RD — The nutritionist of the popular television show The Biggest Loser brings her expertise to the Internet through her personal blog. Although her area of expertise is nutrition, you'll find some excellent articles on self-care and exercise in her blog, as well as reviews for new health products. Following her advice will put you on the right track towards health, fitness, and happiness.

MizFitOnline.com — Award-winning author and fitness enthusiast Carla Brinberg offers her expert opinions on living a healthy lifestyle through her blog. Not only does she espouse fitness and wellness, but she's also an advocate for being proud of one's individuality and tries to share this message alongside her health advice. Follow her as she helps you become a better you — in all aspects of the word — through her excellently-written posts and her entertaining videos.

Living Healthy in the Real World — This informative blog covers every single aspect of health, from eating right to proper exercise to developing a positive body image, and more. In it you'll find the tricks to living a healthy lifestyle, alongside the author's personal insights. What's more, the blog's creator loves to approach health and fitness with a sense of adventure, and so it isn't uncommon that the writer takes on certain health challenges on a regular basis. Challenges like the 60 Sit-Ups in a Minute Challenge and the Raw Food Challenge provide some interesting reading interlaced with the valuable information you can get from each blog post.

Diet and Nutrition

Integrative Nutrition Blog — The biggest nutrition school in the world, the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, has made a mission of providing means for people to practicing healthier eating habits. With that in mind, the school created this informative blog as a platform for sharing ideas on health and happiness. You'll love the many different healthful recipes available on the blog, as well as the fascinating facts shared about the food we eat. Throw in tips on living a healthier lifestyle in mind and in body, and you've got a blog that'll definitely do you good.

The Nutrition Data Blog — A leading online authority on nutrition news and advice, NutritionData.com is full of useful information for those looking to eat healthier. Their blog is a step towards making that information easy to share and easy to read. Alongside providing tips on how to maintain a healthy diet, the blog also answers readers' nutrition-related questions in a friendly, easy-to-understand manner. Your goals of eating healthier will now be a lot easier to reach, all thanks to the great articles provided by this blog.

IAteAPie.net — With more and more people opting to live healthier lifestyles, more and more"health products" are being made and sold on the market. How is the common consumer supposed to pick from all these choices? Enter IAteAPie.net. This extremely helpful blog, maintained by founder Tanya Taylor and four friendly contributors, offers reviews of the many products out there. Each item's nutritional information is included in its write-up, making choosing a health food a simple matter of just firing up your computer and reading through this blog. Who knows? You might just discover a new favorite in the process.

Dietriffic — Melanie has a passion for nutrition, and an even greater passion for helping people get the most out of the food they eat. By making sense out of all the confusing nutritional information out there, Melanie's blog helps you find ways to enjoy a healthy diet. Those of us who want to lose weight can take special notice, as Melanie's an advocate of trimming down not by going on crazy starvation diets, but by simply eating the right foods in the right way.

The Silly Nutrition Undergrad — Get your nutrition information straight from school as Stephanie, the Silly Nutrition Undergrad, shares everything she learns on her way to becoming a full-fledged dietician. Join her as she relates her personal experiences to eating healthy, and get a tip or two on how you can eat better. As she's currently crazy about cooking, she'll be writing about her culinary experiments as well; you can try out her recipes or use them as inspiration for your own adventures in healthy cooking.

Carrots n' Cake — Everybody loves to eat; most of the time, though, we love to eat the bad. Tina, the founder of this blog, aims to show you that a balanced diet is one that lets you spoil yourself once in a while with things that are sinful, yet satisfying. After all, what's the point of eating healthier when you're not happy with the food you eat? Follow Tina as she shows you that anyone can have their carrot sticks, and eat their cake, too!

Kath Eats Real Food — When is food not real? When it's chock-full of artificial flavorings, preservatives, and anything else that comes from a factory. Dietician-to-be Kath espouses the merits of eating real, good food instead of junk food, and lets that passion soar in her blog. She's all too happy to share her foodie experiences with you as she continues to eat healthy and happy. Alongside from all her tantalizing recipes, Kath's got an entire section of her blog dedicated to the food she calls"The World's Greatest Breakfast" — oatmeal!

A Better Bag of Groceries — Melissa, creator of Nutrition by the Numbers, has moved her blog to this location. For those of us who aren't familiar with her yet, Melissa works for NuVal, a company that helps rate foods on a scale of 1 to 100 based on their nutritional value. The higher a food's NuVal score is, the healthier it is. Melissa takes advantage of this helpful scoring system by shopping for foods that have excellent NuVal scores, alowing her to bring home a better bag of groceries each time she goes to the market. She likes to share her adventures in nutrition, and so you can pick up a thing or two about which foods have good NuVal scores, and which ones are better off left on the shelf.

VeggieGirl — VeggieGirl found herself in a most unusual position — in order to manage her many food allergies and Crohn's Disease, she needed to resort to a vegan lifestyle. Despite the limitations imposed on her diet, however, she's found ways to enjoy life to the fullest. She hasn't let her health problems affect her love of food; both cooking and eating. Join her as she shows that a life of vegan eating can be just as good and tasty as any, both through her blog posts and her VeggieGirl TV videos. She offers food reviews, recipes and more, bringing both color and flavor to a lifestyle most people assume to be"boring".

Nutrition Unplugged — If you love food, you're bound to love this deliciously different nutrition blog. Author Janet Helm believes that food and nutrition are meant to be enjoyed, not buried in myth and mystery. Her blog brings you the fad-free facts about proper nutrition and eating right. With enlightening articles on diet and nutrition trends, products, and healthy eating, you'll find ways to make your meals better for your body.

American Society for Nutrition — As one of the country's preeminent nutrition organizations, the American Society for Nutrition advocates healthier eating habits for each and every individual. The Society invites students and teachers alike to share their thoughts and findings in the world of nutrition, as well as a few tasty (and healthy!) recipes. Almost anything you can imagine about nutrition, from personal health experiences to scholarly research articles, can be found in this blog.

Doses of Nourishment — Nutritionist Amanda brings you tasty ways to eat healthy, shared through some fantastic recipes. One look at the dishes she teaches you to prepare will make you salivate for something good for a change. In addition, Amanda does a few reviews for the products that'll actually help you cook her creations.

Whole Food and More — Real whole foods, according to the author of this fine blog, help you beat fat without really giving up any essential nutrients. The blog teaches you exactly how to use these healthier foods not only to shed the pounds, but to improve the quality of your life as a whole. Rounding out all the tasty tidbits of nutrition information are news updates on the world of healthy eating, and on alternative means of promoting a healthy movie.

Fresh Food 4 Thought — This relatively new entry to the world of nutrition blogging brings with it a lot of interesting news on food, dieting, and health in general. The content ranges from in-depth looks at certain healthy foods like ginger, to reviews on books that examine society's obsession with being skinny. As if that weren't enough, the author provides practical tips on how to eat better in a predominantly-unhealthy world. With all the positive things going for it, this blog has a bright, fruitful future.

Hungry Girl — If you prefer your blog entries from"real" people (not nutritionists), then the Hungry Girl is one of you best bets. Take it from a fellow food-lover — you don't have to skip out on the tasty stuff to eat healthy. There is a world of options for the nutrition- and weight-conscious, and Hungry Girl is here to point you in the right direction. Along with giving you advice on the best foods to eat, the blog also gives you general advice on living a healthy lifestyle, with articles on how to avoid bad fad diets, among other things.

Fitness and Exercise

ExerciseProper — ExerciseProper is chock-full of articles that'll help promote a more fit lifestyle, with topics ranging from exercise tips to product reviews on books, equipment, and other exercise-related items. You'll find posts about the secrets to physical fitness, and you'll be surprised to found out how simple they can be. Exercise is a lifestyle, and this blog can serve as your very own life manual.

Hot Exercise — It's no secret — exercise makes people hot (and we're not just talking about temperature). This blog is loaded with information to help you get the physique you've always wanted. Everything you've wanted to know about how exercise can give you a smoking-hot, healthier body can be found here. There is a multitude of ways you can exercise, from deep breathing techniques to participating in extreme sports, and the blog covers them all. Give the tips in the blog's posts a shot, and you'll eventually start feeling and looking a lot better.

Beeble's Fitness Blog — Beeble's mission is simple: to get as much information on fitness and living healthy to as many people as they can. How do they intend to pull this off? By offering incredibly helpful articles on the two most important aspects of a physically-fit lifestyle — diet and exercise. Drop by the blog and find posts on the different nutrients found in the food that you eat, and how they relate to your exercise regimen. You can improve your exercise program with all the handy tips and in-depth info available to you with just a few clicks. Want a better body? Beeble's got your back.

Home Fitness Body — A tragedy involving an overweight coworker helped Tom Rooney wake up and snap out of his unhealthy lifestyle. Not wanting to become another middle-aged statistic, Tom decided then and there to pursue a healthier, more physically-fit lifestyle. As he went on his journey towards fitness, he realized that there were probably others out there just like him — hoping to improve the quality of their lives before their health threatened it. He then founded Home Fitness Body, an avenue where he could share his learnings and progress in his quest for fitness with everyone else. Fitness has now become one of Tom's greater passions, and if you follow his information-rich blog, it might just become one of yours, too.

Cranky Fitness — Are you one of those people who think that staying fit is a gigantic pain in the butt? Then you'll love this blog, which shrinks that huge pain with generous helpings of humor. As your personal guide to"Health, Fitness, Nutrition, Personal Development, and Whining", the blog and its writers tell you it's perfectly fine to think that exercise is a hassle, mostly because they agree with you. However, with their support and inspiration (things seem a lot better when you're not the only one complaining), the advice given in this blog will help you achieve your fitness goals, despite your crankiness. At the very least, you'll lose the crankiness.

My Yoga Online Blog — Anyone who tells you that they're a yoga fanatic because it's a great form of exercise isn't a real fan — true yoga lovers would attest that it's a lifestyle. While one of yoga's main focuses is indeed the exercise, those who practice it will find that yoga affects more than just their bodies; it greatly improves their mental and spiritual health as well. Ask any of the members of My Yoga Online, a friendly community of yoga lovers, and they'll agree that it's life-changing. Better yet, try out the tips provided by the site's official blog and see for yourself how fitness is merely physical; it's holistic.

The Great Fitness Experiment — So you've read all the tips and the advice and all the other exercise commandments fitness blogs and magazines tell you to follow. The question is, do they work? That's what creator Charlotte Hilton Anderson aims to find out by giving them all a personal try. When she's not busting her body to appease your curiosity, Charlotte shares some very insightful opinions on society, love, and living healthy. Even if you don't have the same passion for fitness as she does, you'll nonetheless find yourself heading over to her blog whenever your funny bone needs a bit of tickling.

Home Gym Exercise Equipment — There comes a time where we realize that physical fitness requires a full-time commitment, and that those of us with incredibly hectic schedules just don't have the time to drop by the gym on a regular basis. That's where having a home gym enters the picture. However, gym equipment is pretty expensive stuff, and you probably don't want to spend your hard-earned money on something you won't need. Luckily, this blog offers advice on what kinds of exercise equipment to buy according to your fitness needs. It also provides tips on how to maximize your equipment with optimal exercises.

Mama Sweat — Mothers certainly have a lot on their plate; juggling your career and your family life doesn't really leave a lot of space for physical fitness. However, as blog creator Kara shows you, fitness can fit into a mother's lifestyle. It's all a matter of knowing all the right tricks, which Kara is all too eager to share. At the same time, you'll be getting a glimpse of how she personally lives her life to the fullest — with oodles of fitness, family, and fun.

Running Diva Mom — Another fitness-loving mother, the Running Diva Mom has a passion for cardio and general fitness. Join her as she shares her love for running and exercise on her personal blog, and get to know how she finds the time to balance her me-time (exercise) and her family time for a very fulfilling life.

Kathie's Fitness Stuff — While getting in shape does entail some work, Kathie wants to show you that it doesn't necessarily have to be hard. Follow her as she shares her personal tips on getting the most out of your workouts, and work your way towards easy fitness. She also provides fitness-friendly recipes to make sure that you get the proper balance of diet and exercise. Take Kathie's word for it, and you'll find that a physically-fit lifestyle is easier than it seems.

Exercise and Beyond — Laura insists the everyday exercise can be pretty fun. She does a pretty good job of proving her point on her blog, Exercise and Beyond. She give you tips on optimizing your workouts and finding ways to actually enjoy them for a change. While she's doing that, the Certified Nutrition and Wellness Consultant will also teach you a thing or two about eating right to maintain your healthy, happy body.

Exercise News — If you want to stay updated on the latest fitness and exercise news, you'll be glad that this blog exists. Bringing you up-to-date findings on fitness research, Exercise News will help you make sure that you're always on the pulse. The blog also has a handy workout generator, just in case the news inspires you to get up, get out, and sweat.

Trying Fitness — You've tried the fad diets, and the questionable pills, and the strange foods, all in an effort to lose weight and stay healthy. Why not try fitness for a change? Blogger Eartha used to hate exercise, but after many failed"easy outs" to fitness, she finally decided to get bitten by the workout bug. She started her blog as a self-motivation tool, but as she kept it going, so too, did her interest in exercise and all things fitness. She now runs the blog to share all that she's learned in her quest for a healthier body, from workout tips to the equipment involved.

Bill's Training Blog — Tired of seeing how all those ultra-fit trainers make exercise seem like there's nothing to it? Sometimes, you get the feeling that all those tips they give are for those who were already in peak physical condition to begin with. Bill knows exactly how that feels, and so he started his Training Blog. Written by an average Joe and for the average Joe, Bill's Training Blog provides inspiration for those who want to be fit, but haven't quite gotten there yet. Bill chronicles every step of his journey from average to athlete, sharing his insights on the experiences along the way. If you want a deeply personal account of getting in shape from someone who's pretty much just like you, then you'll definitely enjoy reading this blog.

Tricia, I have one called The Relationship Supermarket.com. It deals with relationships, but also with self-improvement and personal development.
This is a great list. I'll be checking out some of them.